The onus will be on Pakistan’s top batsmen to post competitive totals against England but batting coach Younis Khan said the team will need “a fighting tail” to win the series.
Given the team is prone to inexplicable batting collapses, Pakistan roped in former captain Younis to help their batsmen for the three-Test series beginning in Manchester yesterday. “We’re here to win the series,” Younis, only Pakistan Test batsman in the 10,000-run club, said yesterday. “For that we need a fighting tail, which is the hallmark of all top teams.
“It’s not just the top six-seven batsmen. The tailenders must also perform with the bat,” he said, citing the contribution of England’s lower order in their 2-1 series victory against West Indies. Younis has been working with the pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas, who have single digit batting averages.
“I think Abbas has nice balance. I’m trying to make him their leader, someone who can guide the tailenders,” Younis said. “They may not score a lot, but they need to put up a fight with the bat. “We’ve been working really hard on their batting - feeding them bouncers and yorkers in the nets.”
Skipper Azhar Ali and Babar Azam will have to share bulk of the scoring duty against an England team fresh from their win against West Indies. Younis acknowledged the pressure on Babar, currently among top six batsmen in all three formats, and said he has been trying to help the 25-year-old focus on his game. “He’s been a fantastic player with strong performance in the last couple of years. I’m here to help take his game to the next level.”


Umar gets ban halved to 18 months

Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal’s three-year ban for an anti-corruption breach has been halved by an independent adjudicator, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday. The middle-order batsman was banned in April for failing to report approaches to engage in corrupt practices ahead of this year’s Pakistan Super League Twenty20 competition. Umar, who last played for Pakistan in a Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka in Lahore last year, appealed against the suspension in May. Independent adjudicator Faqir Muhammad Khokhar said Umar’s confession that he failed to report match-fixing approaches on two occasions had left “no room for doubt as to the veracity of the charges.
“The stance taken by the appellant is self-contradictory and not credit-worthy. The case against the appellant stands proved to the hilt,” the retired Supreme Court judge added.
However, the PCB said the adjudicator, “taking a compassionate view” had reduced Umar’s ban to 18 months, backdating the start to Feb. 20 when the player was provisionally suspended.
Umar, whose brothers Adnan and Kamran have also featured for Pakistan, will be eligible to play from August 2021 but the 30-year-old hopes to return earlier. 
“I will decide about the remaining sentence and try to get it reduced further,” he told local media after his hearing.
“For now I am not satisfied and will consult my lawyers and family how to take this ahead. There are many players before me who made mistakes and just look at what they got and what I got.”                  (Reuters)